Suction cleaner



July 25, 1944. F 2,354,207

' SUCTION CLEANER Filed June 13, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l Y INVENTORLlewellyn A. (iriffirh ATTORNEYS July 25, 1944. A. GRIFFITH SUCTIONCLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 Filed June 13, 1941 INVEQNTQRLlewelbmAGnfffih,

2 BY I I ATTORNEYS Patented July 25, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICESUCTION CLEANER Llewellyn A. Griflith, Buffalo, N. Y.

Application June 18, 1941, Serial No. 397,925

6 Claims.

This invention relates to suction cleaners and particularly to novelmeans for insuring correct relative disposition for the parts thereof.More particularly the invention is directed to novel means forautomatically adjusting a brush element to compensate for wear thereofand thereby insure correct relative disposition of its brushing surfacewith respect to the other elements of the cleaner and, accordingly, withrespect to the surface being acted upon.

In cleaners of the general type here contemplated, a suction nozzle isprovided with a downwardly opening mouth which in general practice isadapted to be automatically spaced a predetermined distance above thesurface along which the cleaner is operating and within such mouth thereis disposed a rotatable agitating brush whose lower periphery ispreferably dis-' posed approximately tangent to the plane of the mouthof the nozzle. Obviously this correct disposition of the brushingsurface will soon be departed from by reason of wear of the brush andaccordingly efficiency of operation of the cleaner is progressivelylowered from the beginning of use of a suction cleaner where no meansare provided for brush adjustment. Despite this obviously unsatisfactorystate of affairs, no practical means for the adjustment of the brushwith respect to the nozzle, in cleaners of the class here incontemplation, has found commercial acceptance.

According to my present invention means are provided whereby,automatically between successive suction cleaning operations, thecleaner, automatically upon being placed in a parked position, isdisposed with the mouth of its suction nozzle against the surface beingcleaned and the brush is released for dropping movement to such surface.Upon initial manipulation of the cleaner handle to again place thedevice in position for convenient use, the brush is automatically lockedin its adjusted position and the cleaner is adjusted, likewiseautomatically and upon further movement of the operating handle toposition for use, to dispose the nozzle and brush the desired distanceabove the surface being operated upon.

In agitator brushes of the kind contemplated, it is presentlyconventional to provide a brush shaft having a helical row of bristleswith the helix having a very long lead whereby the row extends almostlengthwise of the axis of the brush shaft and does not present acontinuous circular outline in end elevation. In other words, withpresent-day brush construction, the brush may assume positions where nobristles extend directly downwardly and the bristle-supporting shaft orspindle could be placed upon a flat surface with no bristles contactingsuch surface.

It is accordingly a further object of my invention to modify present-daybrush constructions to present a full circular outline in end elevationfor purposes of accurately gaging the effective A full disclosure of onecomplete embodimentof the principles of my invention is contained in theaccompanying drawings and in the ensuing description thereof. However,it is to be understood that such embodiment is set forth merely by wayof example and that many modifications in the mechanical arrangementthereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, which is not to be' considered as limited otherwise than asdefined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the lower portion of a suctioncleaner embodying the principles of my invention with the nozzle portionthereof shown in cross-section;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the cleaner of Fig. 1 with a portion ofthe frame thereof broken away for added clearness;

Fig. 3 is a somewhat schematic view taken similarly to Fig. l but withthe supporting wheels and nozzle and brush elements in position foroperation; and

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the means for releasably grippingthe brush bearings.

In the drawings like characters of reference denote like partsthroughout the several figures and the numeral Ill designates the lowercasing portion of a suction cleaner which is conventional save for thebrush adjusting mechanism and the cleaner supporting and positioningstructure. A fan (not shown) is disposed in the casing portion ll] inthe usual manner and an operating motor is contained in an upwardextension II of the casing III. The numeral I2 designates a bag forreceiving the matter discharged through the casing portion In and thenumeral I3 designates a manipulating handle which has lower bifurcationsI4 pivotally attached to opposite sides of the casing ID as at I5.

Broadly speaking, the pivoting of the manipulating handle I3 isconventional and is provided so that an operator may dispose the handleeither in an oblique position for convenient use or in a substantiallyupstanding position for convenient parking and storage of the cleaner.In Fig. 1 the handle I3 is shown in the position which it generallyoccupies when the cleaner is not in use or when it is merely temporarilystopped between cleaning operations.

When the manipulating handle I3 is moved clockwise from a position shownin Fig. 1 to an oblique rearward position for convenient use inpropelling the suction cleaner along a surface to be cleaned, thesupporting wheels of the cleaner are in the position shown in Fig. 3.The casing III of the cleaner is provided with pairs of front and rearsupporting ground wheels I8 and I9, respectively. When the ground wheelsI8 and I9 are both in engagement with the surface being operated upon, anozzle portion 20 of the casing III has its mouth 2I disposedsubstantially parallel to the surface being operated upon and spaced apredetermined distance thereabove.

A rotatable agitating brush, which is designated generally 22, isdisposed in the nozzle 20 and, under ideal conditions, with its lowersurface in substantially the plane of the mouth 2| of the nozzle. Thebrush 22 is adapted to be motor driven in a manner conventional in thisart as by means of a belt 23 which passes medially about the brush andabout a pulley 24 which, in the illustrated form, comprises a downwardextension of the motor shaft of the cleaner.

In conventional cleaner structures an auxiliary wheel or wheels areprovided at a point substantially behind the normal rear wheel or wheelsI9. This auxiliary wheel is normally spaced above the surface beingacted upon and assumes approximately the position of a wheel designated25 in Fig. 3. In. conventional constructions this wheel merely preventsdropping of the handle to the floor and possible consequent tipping ofthe cleaner if the operator merely drops the handle from an operatingposition. In conventional structure the wheel or Wheels 25 further serveto elevate the suction nozzle from the surface being cleaned bypermitting limited tipping of the cleaner to a position where it restson the wheels I9 and 25 with the wheel I8 lifted slightly from thesurface being treated.

In the construction of my invention the wheels 25 serve quite adifferent additional function and are accordingly rotatably mounted atthe ends of arms 26 of a pair of bell cranks 21, whereby their verticaldisposition relative to the cleaner proper may be varied in a mannerwhich will presentl appear. In conventional cleaner constructions theseauxiliary rear wheels have been mounted with their axes fixed withrespect to the cleaner body. 'In the illustrated embodiment the bellcranks 2! are pivotably secured to a bracket 28 secured to the casingportion II) of the cleaner.

It will be noted from a consideration of Fig. 1 that the auxiliarywheels 25 are in engagement with the surface upon which the cleaner isresting and the wheels I9 are lifted therefrom. This is a parkedposition of the cleaner and is brought about by movement of the handleI3 to the posiinactive position .tensions 36 formed on the brackets 33.

tion which it occupies in Fig. 1 in the following manner. The lowerbifurcations I4 of the handle I3 have downwardly extending arms 29 whichpivotally engage at their lower ends a pair of links 30 which extendrearwardly and pivotally engage a second pair of arms 3| of the bellcranks 21.

Beginning with the parked position of Fig. 1, obviously movement of thehandle I3 in a clockwise direction to an oblique operating position willrotate the bell cranks 21 in a counterclockwise direction and elevatethe wheels 25 to the indicated schematically in Fig. 3.

Movement of the handle I3 to the inactive position shown in Fig. 1 fromthe operating position in effect pivots the casing III of the cleaner ina counterclockwise direction about the axis of the front wheel I8 andsuch pivotal movement is arranged to be of such degree as to dispose themouth 2I of the nozzle 20 against the surface upon which the cleaner isresting. If the rotatable brush 22 has its lower cleaning surfaceproperly disposed with respect to the mouth 2| of the nozzle 20, it willlikewise engage the surface upon which the cleaner is resting.

To provide automatic adjustment of the disposition of the brush 22, inthe event its surface has worn, I provide automatic means for releasingthe brush 22 to drop to the surface upon which the cleaner is restingand for again securing the brush with respect to the nozzle 20 uponsubsequent manipulation of the operating handle I3 to operating positionand prior to lifting of the nozzle 20 from its position of contact withthe surface upon which the cleaner is resting.

The automatic brush releasing and securing means comprise bearings 32which receive opposite end journal portions of the brush 22 and aredisposed in elongate slots formed by a pair of stationary angle brackets33 secured to the inside of the end walls of the nozzle 20 andcooperating resilient plates 34 which may have angularly extendingflanges 35 rigidly secured to ex- The plates 34 and the extensions 35thereof are of resilient material and normally so disposed as to gripand hold the bearings 32 in a predetermined vertical position in theslots formed b the brack- .ets 33 and the plates 34.

Release of the bearings 32 is effected during the very last part ofmovement of the operating handle I3 to parked position by means of playconnnections which may be in the form of flexible chains 38 extendingbetween the lower ends of the downwardly extending arms 29 of thebifurcations I4 of the handle I3 and upwardly extending portions of apair of arms 39 secured to the plates 34.

Beginning with the parked position of Fig. 1 where the bearings 32 arereleased and the brush 22 is resting upon the surface supporting thecleaner, initial movement of the operating handle I3 in a clockwisedirection will immediately release the tension of the chains 38 on thearms 33 egsageo'z which the cleaner is: resting, as'in"Eig.. 3. Such.

movement automatically disposes the: 'nozzlethe tension of the belt 23-,the' brackets'33 and the plates 34 are preferablyformed to provide slotsextending in an arcuate direction with'the extension24'of the motorshaft as the center'of the arc. g

In rotating brushes for-suction'cleanersit is conventional inpresent-day practice to provide a bristle-carrying spindle which isinterrupted medially by a driving belt, asyfor instance. the

driving belt 23 of Fig. 2. In Fig. 2 such spindleis designated 40 andeach o-f the halves-thereof, lying on opposite sides of the belt 23, isprovided with a single row of bristles as at 4|. This row of bristlesextends along the spindle 40in a helical direction but on a very longhelix so thatthe row of bristles 4| extends through only a very smallangle of the full periphery of the spindle 4U. Therow of bristles whichis provided for the portion of the spindle appearing at the lower halfof Fig. 2 is oppositely disposed with respect to the upper half and isconsequently mostly concealed by the body of the spindle itself.

This bristle arrangement is highly efficacious in removal of particlesin cleaning and cooperates in a satisfactory manner with the suctioncleaning action of the device but it introduces a peculiar problem inadjustment, since in almost any kind of automatic adjustment, there canbe no assurance that the single row of bristles will be in registry withwhatever device is used for gaging bristle length. In fact the odds arevery much against such registry. To provide convenient assurance of thepresence of bristles extending di rectly radially toward a gagingsurface in any disposition of the brush, I provide one or more auxiliarycircular rows of radiating bristle-like elements or filaments which arepreferably of less durable material than the bristles themselves.

In Fig. 2 the numeral 42 designates a continuous circular row of suchgaging bristles at each end of the spindle 40. By forming such rows 42of filaments which are self-sustaining but substantially more wearablethan the bristles 41 of the brush proper, assurance is had that thefilaments of the circular rows 42 will wear off as fast as they arepresented to the surface being cleaned, upon shortening of th bristlesof the principal brushing rows 4| and subsequent adjustment of the axisof the brush to compensate for wear.

A further signal advantage of providing readily wearing filaments in thecircular rows 42 resides in the fact that efficient brushing by the rowsof bristles 4! is not interfered with or modified. If the bristles ofthe circular rows 42 were of the same kind as those of the helicallyextending rows 4|, harmful local brushing action would take placeadjacent the ends of the brush by reason of the greater concentration ofbristles there. Either that or the brush would have to be rotated at aslower speed to avoid such destructive action and that would, of course,render the brushing action of the rows 4| of bristles entirelyinadequate.

I claim:

1. In a suction cleaner, a nozzle having a downwardly directed mouthadapted to be disposed substantially in contact with a surfacesupportingf said. cl'eaner; a brush. disposed in said nozzle with itsbrushing. surface normally. in substantia'llythe plane of saidmouth,'and means for adjusting the vertical disposition of said brushwith said nozzle substantially in contact with said' surface, saidmeans-comprising means for releasably gripping said brush inanyvertical. position and retaining the sam in such position, a manip'--ulating handle for said cleaner pivotably movable from an operating to aparked position, means acting between said handle and saidreleasable'gripping means whereby movement'of'the former to parked positionreleases said gripping means to permit said brush to come to rest uponsaid surface and. automatically assume its desired normal position withrespect to said nozzle mouthj subsequent movement of said handle tooperative position resulting in gripping of said brush by said grippingmeans and retention thereof in desired normal position with respect tothe nozzle mouth.

2. In a suction cleaner. a nozzle having a" downwardly directed mouthadapted to bes'up ported in spaced relation with respect toa surface tobe operated upon during cleaning'opera tions, a brush disposed in saidnozzle with its lowersurface normally in substantially the plane of saidmouth, and means for adjusting the vertical disposition of said brushwith said nozzle mouth to a position substantially in contact with saidsurface, said means comprising bearings rotatably supporting said brushat its opposite ends, means guiding said bearings for verticaladjustment and for laterally gripping said bearings to retain the samein adjusted position, and a manipulating handle for said cleanerpivotably movable from an operating to a parked position, means actingbetween said handle and said releasable gripping means whereby movementof the former to parked position disposes the nozzle mouth substantiallyagainst the surface supporting said cleaner and releases said grippingmeans to permit said brush to rest upon said surface and automaticallyassume its normal desired position with respect to said nozzle mouth,subsequent movement of said handle to operative position ffectinggripping of said brush and retention thereof in desired normal positionwith respect to the nozzle mouth and subsequent lifting of the nozzlemouth to the correct spaced position above said surface.

3. In a suction cleaner, a body having a fore wheel and a rear wheel formoving the same along a surface to be cleaned, a rotatable brushdisposed ahead of said fore wheels and normally adapted to be spaced apredetermined distance above the surface along which the cleaner ismoving, means on said body rearwardly of said front wheel forselectively engaging said surface to lift the rear wheel from engagementwith said surface and pivot said body about the front wheel to move saidbrush toward the surface to gage the correctness of vertical dispositionof the sur face of said brush, and means for adjusting said brush toproper relative vertical position by disposing the same in engagementwith said surface with the body of the cleaner in such pivoted position.

4. In a suction cleaner, a body having a fore wheel and a rear wheel formoving the same along a surface to be cleaned, said body including anozzle having a downwardly directed mouth adapted to be supported inspaced relation with respect to a surface being operated upon when saidfore and rear wheels are in normal engagement with said surface, arotatable brush disposed in said nozzle ahead of said fore wheels withits lower surface normally substantially in the plane of said mouth,means on said body rearwardly of said front wheel for selectivelyengaging said surface to lift the rear wheel from engagement with saidsurface and pivot said body about the front wheel to move said nozzle tothe cleaner supporting surface, and means accessible with the cleaner insuch position adjusting said brush to proper relative vertical positionby disposing the same in engagement with said surface with the body ofthe cleaner in such pivoted position.

5. In a suction cleaner, a body having a fore wheel and a rear wheel formoving the same along a surface to be cleaned, said body including anozzle having a downwardly directed mouth adapted to be supported inspaced relation with respect to a surface being operated upon when saidfore and rear wheels are in normal rolling engagement with said surface,a rotatable brush disposed in said nozzle ahead of said fore wheels withits lower surface normally substantially in the plane of said mouth, andmeans accessible from the exterior of said cleaner for verticallyadjusting said brush relative to said nozzle mouth by pivoting the bodyof the cleaner about the fore wheel to move the nozzle mouthsubstantially to the cleaner-supporting surface and subsequently movingsaid brush to engagement with said surface with the body of the cleanerin such pivoted position.

6. In a suction cleaner, a body having a. forewheel and a rear wheel formoving the same along a surface to be cleaned, a rotatable brush wardlyof said rear wheel for selectively engagingsaid surface to lift the rearwheel from engagement with said surface and pivot said body about thefront wheel to move said brush toward the surface to gage thecorrectness of vertical disposition of the surface of said brush, andmeans for vertically adjusting said brush to proper relative verticalposition by disposing the same in engagement with said surface with thebody of the cleaner in such pivoted position, said auxiliary wheel beingspaced from the surface being operated upon when the cleaner is inposition for use and serving in that position to limit rearward pivotalmovement of the cleaner about the rear" wheel.

LLEWELLYN. A. GRIF'FI'I'H.

